The Cat and The Flame
by Magical Fairy Friend
Summary: Leo's been falling for girls long before Camp Halfblood. Most of them shot him down, but there's always someone who's going to be different. She was the different one, he fell in love with her and then forgot. ONESHOT


Leo had been falling for girls out of his league long before Camp Half-Blood. They never reciprocated, of course. Well, almost never. There had been one girl, one girl who dropped everything for him, who made him laugh, who made him forget everything bad.

He had run away what five, six times now? He knew it was somewhere around there. And every time he seemed to get caught and dragged back to some family that didn't actually care about him. Last time it had taken them almost a month to even notice he was missing.

Anyway, at this new 'home' it took him less then an hour to fall for another girl. Her name was Chelsea, she looked like a model, with long legs and blonde hair. He fell for girl's a lot, but he thought it was fine since he got over them just as fast.  
He ran into her at the park.  
He grinned and gave her a cheesy pick-up line, something along the lines of, 'I think there's something wrong with my eyes, I can't take them off of you!'  
She may have taken it the wrong way, however, because she slapped him and walked away with a huff.

The next girl he fell for was Lisa.  
She was a beautiful exchange student with caramel-coloured skin and black hair.  
He walked up to her in the hallway and grinned at her before asking, "Are you lost, because heaven is a long way from here."  
She had looked incredibly confused before she told him that she didn't speak English.  
He still tried though, he persisted until his crush faded.

Then there was the head-cheerleader, Mary.  
He sat beside her in math and after class he went up to flirt with her.  
Of course, this time before he could speak, she held up her hand.  
She turned her head to look at him before sneering and walking away.  
That didn't last long since he soon found out she had a, very scary, boyfriend.

After that Leo didn't really get a crush for a while.  
Until he met Faith. Not that it lasted long  
She didn't attend his school, so he didn't know much about her.  
He saw her first at the pool, she bumped into him by accident and she spilled her coffee on him.  
She looked like a model, long legs, tanned skin, dark hair down in soft curls to her hips.  
She was beautiful, completely out of his league, he fell for her instantly, obviously.  
Surprisingly though, she spoke first this time, "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I wasn't paying attention, I'm sorry! Are you alright?"  
"Um," Leo paused, eyes wide in awe of the quick talking girl, "I'm fine." He shook out of his shock and grinned opening his mouth to flirt but his response was cut off by a deeper voice.  
"Faith! You could've gotten hurt, be more careful."  
"Sorry, Liam. I didn't want to be late!" The girl explained before turning back to Leo, "I'm so sorry about your shirt, um. . .what did you say your name was?"  
"Leo-,"  
"I'm Faith, it was wonderful to meet you! I have to go!"  
The next time he saw her was at the pool once again. They had talked for a while and he found out that she was two years older than him and that she had a boyfriend.  
His crush on her didn't last long as it quickly faded to friendship.  
The bubbly girl was his best friend.

And then, his best friend introduced him to his next crush.  
He hadn't expected it to end any differently then the others.  
He met her first when Faith had called her over. Faith had barley finished introducing them before the girl had to run off.  
The girl's name was Nadia. She was short, shorter than him, pale, freckled. She was curvy and thin at the same time, he thought she looked like a dancer. Her hair was a sandy brown and she wore it in a ponytail.

A few days later Leo was working his shift at Starbucks. He looked around the cafe, the storm had driven most customers home and only a few remained, probably those who planned to wait out the rain. The bell above the door drew his attention, he hadn't expected anyone else to come in. The new customer was a small girl who faced the door as she tried to rid her hair of stray raindrops by shaking her head. Leo smiled at the cute quirk, the girl wasn't exactly dressed for the weather, he figured she wasn't one to pay attention to the weather. When the girl turned around Leo's smile widened, the same sandy brown hair, from the other day, hung drenched around Nadia's shoulders. Her green eyes flickered across the signs for sales at the cafe before landing on him.  
"Leo, right?"  
Her voice was soft yet strong and Leo's smile remained while he replied, "Yup!"  
"You come here often?" She asked, her head tilting to the side making her pick-up line seem more curious even with her sly smile.  
"I do work here." Leo grinned back.  
"Oh, yeah." She giggled softly, "Caramel Frapp, tall."  
Leo smiled and rung up her order moving back to prepare it before bringing the sugary drink to the girl.  
Leo's shift dragged on as the rain hit the windows, his object of affection had curled up in a chair staring at the falling rain. The next shift worker arrived early so Leo clocked out and almost stepped into the storm before he turned his head, his gaze falling on the girl curled up in her chair sleeping.  
Leo smiled at how peaceful she looked. He changed his path walking to the table instead of leaving and shook Nadia's shoulder lightly. She stirred slightly but didn't wake up.  
"It's not nap time, Nad. Wake up." He said quietly.  
After a few more attempts Leo shook his head, sitting down across from her.  
He noticed that, like when they met, she wore a sweater with a cat on it. The book in front of her had little drawings of cats, too.  
When she purred quietly in her sleep Leo burst into laughter.  
Nadia sat up moment later giving a confused look to Leo when his laughter started again as she stretch in her chair.  
"Nice nap, Kitty-girl?"  
She scowled at the nickname and ignored his question, instead looking outside, "The rain let up."  
Leo followed her gaze to see the sun peeking through the clouds and a rainbow stretching across the sky.  
"Make a wish."  
"What?" Leo asked turning back to the cat-girl.  
She smiled at him, "People wish on stars, dandelions, chips. Why not a rainbow? Maybe, it'll work."  
Leo shook his head but looked back at the rainbow.

They hung out more after that, Leo loved the shared secrets, his laugh matching hers, her curious nature.  
Leo still had a crush on her, he thought it might fade like it did with Faith, but instead every moment he spent with Nadia his crush grew.  
He didn't ask her out because he didn't want her to leave.  
So he stayed quiet about his crush.  
Even when he slept over at her house.  
Even when she cried on his shoulder.  
Even when he found out that her father abandoned her and her mother didn't care.  
Even when he told her about his mother.  
Even when he cried on her shoulder.  
Eventually Faith told him she knew, but he made her promise not to tell.

They sat in the school auditorium having both earned detention, if asked they had _not_ been the cause of the fifty pigeons inhabiting the gym.  
Nadia's feet rested in Leo's lap as she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. Leo had fixed her speaker so they could listen to music but they had switched to Leo's Ipod minutes ago. Nadia had tried to teach him vocal chords before but most of her lessons didn't help. Still a Spanish song was on and Leo sang along, slightly out of key, just to see the smile that grew on his friend's face when he missed a note. Soon the music switched back to English and Leo hopped up pulling Nad with him.  
"Come on," He encouraged twirling around, "Dance with me, Cat-girl!"  
"You goof," Nadia laughed, stepping quickly in tune with the music.  
Leo stuck his tongue out and Nadia mimicked the expression in response.  
"Cat-girl! You're not supposed to upstage me!" Leo whined as the dance student went with the music instead of goofing around like him.  
"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you wanted me to be a bad dancer." Nadia replied rolling her eyes.  
"Well, you shouldn't be able to sing _and _dance! It's completely unfair!"  
She grabbed his hand spinning him towards her. When he got close she intended to push him away again but instead she yelped as the lights went out with a power outage.  
"Leo!" She cried gripping his shirt to confirm he still stood there.  
"Hey, hey. It's alright, I'm right here, Kitty." Leo's voice had lost it's joking tone, he knew that his friend was afraid of the dark and he pulled her too him in a comforting hug.  
The light returned minutes later and Leo gulped when he realized how close they were. Nadia was still holding him in a hug and when she looked up their faces were inches apart.  
Leo stared at her his gaze flickering from her stunned gaze to her lips. He started to move his head downwards- the doors slammed open, in surprise they both jumped back. The teacher dismissed them saying that they had served their detention. They went their separate ways, Nadia rushing for the door before Leo had even had the chance to say goodbye.

Leo wasn't sure what to think. She hadn't moved when he went to kiss her but he hadn't seen her since then. Whenever he saw her in the hallway she left quickly.

Almost a week passed like that.  
Leo was positive he drove her away. He lost her. When his foster family told him they were sending him away, he was too much trouble in their words, he couldn't bring himself to care. Faith was leaving town too, she had been offered a modeling job in New York. Leo was happy for her.  
He wanted to talk to Nadia before he left but he couldn't find her.

On the day he was supposed to go to this new 'home' Leo sat on the hill behind the Starbucks. He had come here a few times with Nadia, she usually sat in the tall tree that he was currently leaning on. She had somehow got him addicted to the sugary coffee's. There was a light rain but he didn't notice.  
"Did you make a wish?"  
Leo jumped at the sound of the soft voice and he turned, Nadia stood beside the tree her mouth forming a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.  
Leo's jaw dropped but he couldn't find words. Nadia took this as a cue and she sat down next to him crossing her legs and pointing.  
"Wishes for rainbows, right?" She murmured and Leo turned to see the rainbow she was pointing at.  
"What's your wish?" Leo asked, in the back of his mind he knew that with anyone else he would be joking around, but not with her.  
Nadia was quiet for a while, when she spoke she didn't answer his question. "I heard you were leaving."  
"Yeah," Leo forced a grin, "guess I was just too hot for them."  
"Do you know where you're going?" Nadia asked, looking at her hands as she fiddled with a fallen leaf.  
"Some place in the South," Leo tried to keep his voice upbeat though his grin faltered slightly, "So, did you use your crazy cat psychic powers to figure it out?" He joked.  
The corner of Nadia's mouth twitched up at the reference to her nickname. But when she spoke next her voice sounded lost. "I'm going with Faith."  
She paused to turn to him and she pulled an envelope out of her pocket, "I got a scholarship to a dance studio, if I finish high school there I'll be right into one of New York's best dance studio's. I wanted to give you this to take with you."  
After a brief pause she asked, "What would you wish for?"  
When Leo didn't respond she gave him a small smile and turned to leave.  
Leo stood up, grabbing her wrist, "Nad-Kitty-girl,"  
"One more thing," Nadia whispered spinning back to him.  
She moved quickly, swiftly, Leo didn't know what she was doing until he felt her hand on his shoulder and her lips against his. Before he could respond she pulled back again.  
"You." She whispered, "I wished for you."

Leo had to leave right after that.  
It took him two days before he stuck the unopened envelope in his bag along with some clothes and a few belongings. He ran away. It was the shortest time he ever spent at a 'home'. They might've been nice people. Leo wouldn't know.  
All he could thing about, was that the biggest crush he had-, the girl he wanted so desperately, his first kiss, was gone.  
And she didn't leave him.  
The one time he left someone else,  
was the time he had fallen for her.  
This time she wasn't a simple crush.  
Hell she wasn't a huge crush.  
He had fallen for her,  
he loved her.

When he reached the train station he sat down. His mind straying to so many places. When he felt something in his hands he looked down to see that he had subconsciously pulled out the envelope.  
Leo swallowed and ran his fingers across the sides before tearing off the top. Inside the paper packaging there was a stack of photos and an Ipod nano.  
Leo gave a hard laugh, he had told Nadia about how he loved mixtapes.  
He plugged in the headphones and fiddled with the controls until Nadia's voice played.  
_'Leo! So, I guess if you're listening to this I gave you the tape.' _An automatic smile tugged at Leo's mouth at the sound of her voice. She laughed lightly over the recording but he could hear the sadness in her voice. _'If everything happened the way I think it did then, well, first off, I'm sorry. I freaked out in the auditorium. I guess I never felt like this before. Trusting people isn't my strong suit, ya know? Uh, second, I recorded a few songs on here, some of the others are just ones I thought you'd like. So, good luck, with whatever's happening, okay? And, just, don't be sad, or regret anything, because none of this was your fault. So be happy. _Leo's breath caught and he shook his head, fiddling with some gears as her words stopped and the piano started. Leo swayed slightly with the music, most of it was rather slow but some were fast songs. It wasn't until the end that the recording played Nadia's recordings. The last song caught his attention, Nadia coughed before her voice intertwined with the music.  
_'Your fingertips across my skin, the palm trees swaying in the wind, images.'  
__'You sang me Spanish lullabies the sweetest sadness in your eyes. Clever trick.'  
__'Well, I never wanna see you unhappy, I hope you want the same, for me.'  
'Good bye my almost almost lover. Goodbye my hopeless dream.'_  
_'I'm trying not to think about you, can't you just let me be?'  
'So long, my luckless romance. I wish my back could turn on you.'  
'Should've known you'd bring me heartache, almost lover's always do.'  
'We walked along a crowded street, you took my hand and danced with me. Images.'  
'And when you left you kissed my lips, you told me you'd never forget these images.'  
'And no- ooh, ooh.'  
'Well, I'd never wanna see you unhappy. I hope you want the same for me.'  
'Gooodbye, my almost lover. Goodbye, my hopeless dream.'  
'I'm trying not to think about you, can't you just let me be?'  
'So long, my luckless romance. My back is turned on you.'  
'Should've known you'd bring me heartache, almost lovers always do.'  
'I cannot go to the ocean, I cannot drive the streets at night, I cannot wake up in the morning,'  
'Without you on my mind.'  
'So, you're gone and I'm haunted. And I wonder if you're fine.'  
'Did I make it that easy to wake right in and out of my life?'  
'Goodbye, my almost lover.'  
'Goodbye, my hopeless dream.'  
'I'm trying not to think about you.'  
'Can't you just let me be?'  
'So long, my luckless romance.'  
'Should've known you'd bring me heartache.'  
'Almost lovers always do.'_

Leo hadn't noticed that he was crying until a tear fell onto his lap.

Child Services found him the next day.  
He wasn't going to be sent to another home.  
This time he was going to some Wilderness School.  
He made a box for the photos that Nadia had given him, after some thought he put the Ipod into the box too.  
He didn't want to open it.  
He stored his sadness in a box.

Leo acted happy at the school, he was a prankster, a joker, a shameless flirt who couldn't get a girlfriend. In his first week he thought he saw Faith.  
He almost had a panic attack. But when he had run up to the girl he realized she was shorter, her hair was cut choppily with braids in it, she didn't have Faith's ever present gold head band that had rested on her forehead like a hippie, she wasn't Faith but, damn, she reminded him of her.  
Her name was Piper. And after a while he got to the point of ignoring her resemblance to Faith.  
Piper was kind, she was a quick friend.  
He needed a friend.  
He made sure to never tell her about Faith or Nadia, never Nadia he didn't tell anyone about her. He tried to forget about her.  
When The Mist that came with Jason messed with his head it took away his memory of the pair. Sometimes he would have a faint sense that he was forgetting someone but he never thought on it.

Leo found out he was a demigod. The Son of Hephaestus. The boy who lost his mother in a fire that he started. The Seventh Wheel. The boy who didn't remember love.

**Whelp. That was fun.  
****Notes: I have a head canon that Leo didn't hit on Piper because she reminded him of a friend.  
The song is 'Almost Lover, by a Fine Frenzy.  
That's it. Hope you liked it!**


End file.
